August has been so hot up here, I've usually gotten home to my apartment
(that does not have air conditioning) and not wanted to make myself sweat
any more than I did just sitting there listening to music. But, it's finally
cooling off again and school is starting again, so expect more excitement
from cMusicWeb.com soon. I spent all of last night listening to the new
releases of the last 3 weeks, plus found that I must really like hip-hop
recently, as the featured review and all the picks for this issue are of the
beats 'n' flows variety.

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HOLY CULTURE - THE CROSS MOVEMENT (2003)
by Jon Corbin

1997 saw the premiere of a talented, passionate hip-hop crew The Cross
Movement. Six years later, following many different line-up changes, the
crew has a new record deal and a group membership of four (Ambassador,
Tonic, Phanatik and Tru-Life). It has been three years since a CM project
has been released, but as their latest record, Holy Culture, displays, the
crew did not remain stagnant. Instead, they bring a dual message, speaking
to the church and the streets with one of the most mature stances in the
industry. People aren't ready for this.

The group's previous album, Human Emergency, called believers to recognize
the dangers of God's coming judgement and get working to save souls. Holy
Culture takes that message to a new level. The title track, performed by The
Phanatik, encourages Christians to stand for God's righteousness: "Pray /
Stay / Build / Chill / Walk the / Talk the / Spark the Holy Culture / Give /
Live / Speak with / Meekness / Week out and week in / Spark the Holy
Culture." The banging "In Not Of" has The Tonic reminding the church that
God is the creator of hip-hop, allowing believers to be involved in the
culture without indulging in its sin. "Lord, the world thinks that you left
the streets / And that you ain't the kind of God that would bless the beats
... He left us in the world and said 'mix it up' / With a righteous kinda
flow that picks it up / Before Satan can 666 it up / He gonna bust through
the sky and fix it up." Also found are several snippets of discussions the
group has regarding Christians in hip-hop. Not wanting to abandon the
culture, they call other emcees to bring the message of the cross according
to their calling.

Each track has a stunning capability to challenge the church while
simultaneously speaking messages accessible to those outside of it. The
Ambassador blesses a crafty Rodney Jerkins track ("Free") to gently paint a
picture of lost souls in need of Christ’s transformation. The crew touches
on the afterlife with "Forever" and "Cry No More," conveying thoughts of
heaven in a delicate balance - drawing people towards its hope but not
sugarcoating the message. The Tonic warns, "I hear the whispers of the fat
lady / And the only reason she ain't singing right now is / God got His hand
on the volume baby / Real patient ain’t he / But don’t take His kindness for
weakness..."

However, these great messages would have little effect without decent
production. Rodney Jerkins delivers excellent work with "Free," the smooth
joint "Closer To You," and the outstanding posse cut "When I Flow." DJ
Official gets a lot of work on this record and contributes quality material.
His best track is the club friendly "Eternal Cypha" that features many East
Coast artists including R-Swift, Truth, J-Silas and Todd Bangz. Bangz also
delivers an exciting party track for The Phanatik on "Start Something." The
hot beats only further demonstrate the maturity of the group that seeks to
put out a project that will have kids nodding their heads.

The only complaint might be that the group has too much to say, with several
songs clocking in at over five minutes. The album is packed with knowledge
that will take several listens to unravel. Holy Culture is for the head: the
knowledge will keep your brain active, the tracks will make your neck work,
and if you don't pick up this project, I'll be shaking my head.

Find out more about The Cross Movement:
http://cMusicWeb.com/hiphop/crossmovement


OTHER NEW STUFF ON cMUSICWEB.COM

Review: Bring It On - Phil Joel
http://cMusicWeb.com/alternative/philjoel/bringiton.shtml

Movie Review: One Hour Photo
http://cMusicWeb.com/movies/o/onehourphoto.shtml

Movie Review: Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines
http://cMusicWeb.com/movies/t/t3.shtml

Views: Amy Grant Is Staring At Me
http://cMusicWeb.com/views/archivemel/amygrantisstaringatme.shtml

Feature: Pigeon John
http://cMusicWeb.com/hiphop/pigeonjohn/feature.shtml


AVAILABLE TUESDAY, AUGUST 12 (at cMusicWeb.com or your local music store)

CELEBRATE MISTAKES - NUMBER ONE GUN
The sticker on the plastic wrap had some nice words from Matt Thiessen of
Relient K, and it fits. Number One Gun has a good punk style, but has yet to
develop the pop-punk prowess of their Relient K brethren.

CON PODER - SALVADOR
Salvador's first Spanish language album finds the band spicing up the Latin
world with high-energy worship and praise.

DESPERATION - VERTICAL MUSIC
Desperation definitely is an edgier worship project than most, but I did not
find it as immediately engaging as similar releases from The Burn Service
band.

NEXT DOOR SAVIOR - VARIOUS ARTISTS
It seems that Max Lucado has to have all the promotional tie-ins just like
those people over at Left Behind, so here we have a CD to go with his latest
book. Here you will find all the big names in pop bringing their versions of
classic and contemporary hymns.

A PLACE CALLED SURRENDER - DAVE LUBBEN
Although produced by the much-respected Nathan Nockels, the worship of Dave
Lubben failed to grab my attention amidst the rest of the many worship
releases.


AVAILABLE TUESDAY, AUGUST 19 (at cMusicWeb.com or your local music store)

BACKBREAKANOMICS - MARS ILL
Mars ILL, one of the most respected underground hip-hop duos, is back with
their best work yet. From the creative packaging to all 19 tracks, manCHILD
and DJ Dust bring non-stop musical innovation to the genre in this PICK OF
THE WEEK.

IT TAKES TWO - SPARROW RECORDS
Although the idea of duets can be cool, less than half of the disc is new
recordings. Most of the disc, such as Sonicflood and Lisa Kimmey's duet of
"I Could Sing Of Your Love Forever" and "Out There" (featuring big-guys SCC
and MWS) are just collected from other places.

JEKYLL & HYDE - PETRA
After years of keeping in the territory of worship music and such, John
Schlitt and Co. have made a brand new recording that shows that Petra is
still going strong. With the help of the Newsboys' Peter Furler's
production, Petra still rocks as hard as ever, and those of you who still
wear out our classic rock CDs will be happy to have something new.

LEGACY DVD - NICHOLE NORDEMAN
Part of the Collector's Series DVD releases, Legacy features the title music
video plus some live performances and words of wisdom from Nichole.

OHIO - OVER THE RHINE
Those who have been waiting to hear some new material from Over the Rhine
will be happy. Ohio is a double-disc set of 20 songs from this popular group
that blurs the line between Christian and mainstream.

ON THE ROAD TO BEAUTIFUL - CHARLIE HALL
Of Passion's leading men, David Crowder, Chris Tomlin, and Charlie Hall,
Charlie is the least well known. However, Hall's latest release brings some
quality worship that may bring him into more recognition.

PASSION: SACRED REVOLUTION: SONGS FROM ONEDAY03 - VARIOUS
This year's OneDay conference brought tens of thousands of students to Texas
to spend a day in intimate worship and prayer, and this CD captures some of
the music. Not surprisingly, most of the CD is new music from Passion's main
voices: Charlie Hall, David Crowder, and Chris Tomlin, as well as worship
from Watermark and Matt Redman, among others.

SIMPLE THINGS - AMY GRANT
Many things have been said about Amy over her years, but we would just
rather not say anything. For the most part, avid Amy fans will love this new
disc, but I'm not one, so I'm not buying it.


AVAILABLE TUESDAY, AUGUST 26 (at cMusicWeb.com or your local music store)

A BEAUTIFUL GLOW - ROCK 'N' ROLL WORSHIP CIRCUS
I was at one time interested in the Circus, but so far have been
disappointed about their albums. The band tries to be all things to all rock
fans, which definitely fits the circus theme. Also, it would be nice if the
circus could go on for longer than 10 songs in 40 minutes... do most worship
songs run only as long as a Stacie Orrico single?

PIGEON JOHN IS DATING YOUR SISTER - PIGEON JOHN
Pigeon John, a former member of LA Symphony, is one of holy hip hop's best
underground voices, as well as one of the weirdest dancers I have seen.
Although his roots approach to hip hop is not conductive to large
popularity, hopefully this new release and funky title will bring along more
fans.

RISK - TEN SHEKEL SHIRT
10ss explores a bit more rock-influenced sound for their second release,
which sounds like a better fit for the band. Expect a disc of new
worship-rock tunes by lead singer Lamont Hiebert


Thanks for reading this week's cMusicMail, and we'll be back next week with
even more great content. If you have any comments or questions, please reply
to this e-mail or send them to webmaster@.... We'd love to hear
from you!

Dan Ficker
http://cMusicWeb.com/
a different approach to music
AOL IM - dMusicWeb